08-09-2008, 05:02 PM
Quote: Everything else I've read is merely wage slave jealousy.This is the big discussion stopper. So whenever somebody is making more money then us, we are not allowed to criticize this person?
I have no problems with big salaries for CEOs. The problem I have is that they will never be held responsible when they make a mess. Before the internet bubble burst, and also now before the mortgage crisis, many CEOs that were just going with the flow of favorable economic conditions, turned out to be crap at their job. Theoretically this would have such a person fired and hold accountable, however practically they get send home with a big amount of money....without ever having taken any risk (it was not their company they just led it). This is possible because shareholders (the big ones) need quick profit and long term goals are of no interest. This can hardly be called a fair thing, and for sure doesn't have anything to do with jealousy.
Remember the CEO of Bear Stearns (if I am correct, it could also have been another of the big investment banks) got rewarded for losing billions of dollars with 126 million dollar go-away bonus plus an office with assistant in Manhattan for 2 years.
This is only possible because in the higher management/board/shareholder there is no normal supply and demand and because the real value of a CEO can never be calculated (having a net loss might be a good job of the CEO because others would have lost more etc.) but often these contracts are ridiculous.